This article contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning stands out from the franchise's best films for how it revisits Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) previous adventures. As Ethan and his team try to prevent the evil "Entity" from starting a nuclear war, the protagonist is also forced to confront his past and his mistakes to save the world in what seems to be his final mission on the big screen. This meant digging into the lore established in movies as far back as the original from 1996.

Many The Final Reckoning needed to connect to previous films, not just as a sequel to Dead Reckoning, but also as the finale for Ethan's story in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

The Final Reckoning Is Overloaded With Explaining Mission: Impossible's Lore

The Final Reckoning Spends A Lot Of Time Catching Audiences Up To Speed

In of franchise lore, The Final Reckoning is the franchise's densest film yet, as it features several returning characters and plot points from past movies. This begins in the first act of The Final Reckoning when Gabriel recounts how Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) forced Ethan to steal the mysterious "Rabbit's Foot" in Mission: Impossible III. Gabriel then reveals that the Rabbit's Foot actually held the source code that was used to create the Entity, making Ethan partially responsible for the AI's reign of terror.

Likewise, the U.S. t Chiefs of Staff spend a scene going through Ethan's most notable missions in previous films, mentioning the CIA Black Vault heist, the Kremlin bombing, and his gassing of a security briefing in Dead Reckoning. The Final Reckoning also spends considerable time exploring Ethan's conflict with Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) and his famous Black Vault heist from the first film, as they came back around in the form of Jim Phelps Jr. (Shea Whigham) and William Donloe (Rolf Saxon).

The Best Mission: Impossible Movies Don't Rely On Audiences Knowing The Other Films

Many Great Mission: Impossible Movies Stand Tall On Their Own

Many Mission: Impossible movies before The Final Reckoning feel like self-contained stories. They don't require audiences to know everything that came before them to enjoy them. For example, Mission: Impossible - Fallout featured the return of Ethan's ex-wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), as well as Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) from Rogue Nation. However, the movie didn't have to do much to help audiences follow the story enough for them to have a good time watching it.

Audiences also didn't need to watch several Mission: Impossible movies to understand the characters enough to get invested in them in just one movie, particularly since some brief exposition is provided. While watching prior films makes it a little easier to understand the plot and characters, much of the Mission: Impossible franchise doesn't require a lot of research to enjoy the films individually. The story and characters are usually focused more on the task at hand rather than whatever came before it.

The Final Reckoning Was Never Not Going To Be Heavily Connected To Mission: Impossible's Past

The Final Reckoning Had To Feel Like The End Of Everything That Occurred Before It

Since The Final Reckoning was Part Two of Dead Reckoning's story, the former film's narrative had to be directly connected to the one that came before it. However, since The Final Reckoning will likely be the last film in the Mission: Impossible franchise for Ethan, it had to be the culmination of everything that came before it.

This meant that the movie had to connect to Ethan's previous adventures in a way that proves that everything he's done has led to his final battle with the Entity. This is done by making the Rabbit's Foot the source of the Entity and having Ethan reunite with Donloe, as it forces him to face the consequences of his actions. This makes for a compelling climax to his multi-film arc as he tries to prevent his past actions from destroying the entire world and everyone he cares about.

In the end, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning required that audiences be familiar with the plots of some of the franchise's previous films, particularly Dead Reckoning. While multiple films in the franchise didn't need this kind of prior knowledge, The Final Reckoning's story is very different. If this iconic action franchise was going to wrap up Ethan's decades-long journey on a high note, it had to revisit the past and show how his actions built up to this last film.